SOURCE: Spiked Online
PHOTO: Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Paulussen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An eco-obsessed elite has sacrificed energy and food security to the climate agenda.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The German government decided last week to temporarily halt the phasing-out of two nuclear power plants. This is an attempt to secure Germany\u2019s energy supplies after Russia effectively turned off its gas exports<\/a> to Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there is much more the German government could do if it was serious about shoring up its energy security. It could, for example, overturn its 2017 ban on fracking. As a 2016 government report<\/a> shows, Germany sits on shale-gas deposits<\/a> of more than two trillion cubic metres \u2013 20 times its annual gas consumption. Fracking could realistically cover 10 per cent of Germany\u2019s gas needs per year. Even more encouragingly, the report shows that fracking in Germany could be done without harming public health or the environment. Fracking could therefore help to provide a long-term solution to the deepening energy crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Germany is staring into the abyss thanks to the energy crisis. German heavy industry may even have to cut back on production in order to cope with soaring energy costs. Steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal<\/a> has already announced it is to shut down blast furnaces in some of its plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fracking wouldn\u2019t solve these problems overnight \u2013 it would take a few years to fully exploit the deposits. But giving fracking the green light would certainly send the signal that Berlin is serious about helping German industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia\u2019s ongoing gas squeeze has also affected Germany\u2019s food production. As it stands, 70 per cent of Europe\u2019s fertiliser production<\/a>, which depends on gas, has been halted. This could seriously hinder agricultural output in 2023, and lead to massive shortages in food provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet Germany\u2019s political leaders seem to be putting their commitment to green orthodoxy above all else \u2013 including the need to tackle the multiple crises Germany now faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take Cem \u00d6zdemir, the German food and agriculture minister. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung<\/a><\/em>, he said that \u2018hunger should not be abused as an argument to make compromises regarding biodiversity or protection of the climate\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n